Where do I begin?

I’ve told you guys before that I never expected there to be so many resources on how to have a green wedding. (I love the top-10 tips on how to green your wedding by Treehugger.com, which even helps you find where to get the green resources. And Emily Anderson’s EcoChicWeddings.com is an awesome resource for all things green and stylish.) But this past week, I started thinking—where is an eco-aware bride meant to start? What are the most productive changes she and her fiancé can make?

Think about all the tips we’ve seen about having a green wedding: serve organic food and drink, have organic flowers, don’t use a lot of decorations, don’t use a lot of paper and plastic, have an organic wedding dress, print your invitations on recycled paper, have a small wedding, don’t buy things you won’t use, change your wedding dress into something you’ll want forever…

It’s probably not plausible that a couple will spring (or settle) for all of these green alternatives. So, if you’re a bride- or groom-to-be, you’re probably asking: where do I begin and where can I make the most difference?

Luckily, I had the chance to ask Beck Cowles from the Ecology Center in Berkeley, Calif., about how wedding planners can sort through all the green resources.

Cowles had tons of ideas but she picked three that she thought were simple and would make the most difference:

1. Don’t fly off in a jet airplane and don’t have your family fly in one, either. Jet emissions have the biggest and worst impact on the environment, especially in climate change.
2. Use local and organic resources. She emphasized using organic food.
3. Simplify the wedding to consume less in general and don’t ask for a lot of gifts because they produce a lot of waste in wrapping paper and natural resources.

I really think keeping the wedding small is the only way to prevent your family from traveling by air. I can imagine it being extremely difficult to say, “Cousin Jenny, I don’t want you to come to my wedding because I care more about the environment than you.” It’s easier just to say, “I’m sorry Cousin Jenny, we’re just having a small wedding to save money.”

If you do have some guests flying or driving in, check out TerraPass.com to buy carbon offsets. They have a wedding calculator that will help determine the carbon emissions caused by the travel to your wedding. Or better yet, just plant a bunch of trees at your house.

Cowles second tip came with an explanation of how much better organic foods are for the environment. Here’s a list of some other organic elements out there: organic flowers, organic suits and dresses, organic sparkling wine, fair-trade coffee and organic and all-natural linens like silk and hemp.

Her last tip is to just cut general consumption and don’t get more than you need. A wedding is a party, which is excessive by nature, but you don’t have to go overboard. Keep your resource use as low as possible by having a small, humble affair.